According to the airspace company, Skynet 5D was launched on
behalf of Astrium Services, which will provide secure
telecommunications services to the British Ministry of Defense,
NATO and other countries which already use the Skynet family of
military communications satellites. Arianespace has already
launched seven Skynet satellites for the British Defense Ministry.

In the meanwhile, the Mexsat Bicentenario telecommunications
satellite was launched for the Mexican Secretariat of
Communications and Transport. It will provide telecommunications
services across the country and it is the 23rd satellite built by
Orbital Sciences Corporation to be launched by Arianespace.

Arianespace stressed that this successful mission, the seventh
for Ariane 5 in 2012, further confirmed Arianespance's position as
"the world's benchmark launch system for all telecommunications
operators, whether civil or military."
"Arianespace's Ariane 5 flight with the Skynet 5D and Mexsat
Bicentenario satellite passengers today wrapped up another busy
year of company launch activity," the company added.

During 2012, Arianespace performed a total of 10 missions from
the Spaceport in French Guiana, led by the heavy-lift Ariane 5
with its 10-metric-ton payload lift performance, which has logged
53 consecutive successes during the past 10 years.